Creating the Shopify of Auctions with Tom Best, Founder of The Auction Collective
In this episode, I sat down with Tom Best, founder and CEO of The Auction Collective.
Tom came up through Christie's Auction House, where he spent six years as an auctioneer and contemporary art specialist, before doing a stint in humanitarian aid and then combining those two threads into The Auction Collective.
He started his business in 2017 as a live auction event pop-up, pivoted into online auctions during the pandemic, and has since grown into what Tom describes as the Shopify of auctions — a white-label platform that lets artists, charities, and organisations run their own auctions without having to approach a big auction house.
In this episode, we talk about how all of that actually happened, including the iterations, the pivots, the decisions around hiring and building a team, and what it looks like to raise investment for a business sitting at the intersection of tech and the art market. We talk about what it means to take a concept like Shopify and apply it to the art world, and whether that model translates when you apply it to an industry that is as relationship- and trust-driven as the art market.
This was such a transparent, fun, and eye-opening episode when it comes to auctions, start ups, and the art world. Thank you Tom for coming on the podcast!
You can follow The Auction Collective on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/theauctioncollective
and find out more at https://www.theauctioncollective.com/
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ABOUT THE HOST:
I am an Austrian-American art historian, curator, and writer. I obtained my BA in History of Art at University College London and my MA in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy at Goldsmiths, University of London. My specializations are in contemporary art and the contemporary art market along with accessibility, engagement, and the demystification of the professional art sector.
SOCIALS:
This episode is produced at Synergy https://synergy.tech/the-clubhouse/the-podcast-studio/
COVER ART: Lisa Schrofner a.k.a Liser https://www.liser-art.com/ and Luca Laurence https://www.graffitikunst.at/
